View full sizeA large line of federal housing assistance applicants forms in Phillipsburg in August 2011, before local Section 8 providers shuttered their waiting lists due to the federal sequester.Express-Times File Photo

There’s no such thing as a Section 8 housing waiting list any more in Northampton, Lehigh and Warren counties.

Some local public housing agencies closed their lists years ago as demand for Section 8 vouchers to offset rental costs skyrocketed during the economic recession. Now, any agency that continued to take names isn’t any more after suffering significant funding cuts from the federal sequester.

Every housing agency in Northampton, Lehigh and Warren counties said last week that they’re no longer issuing any new Section 8 vouchers. Some fear the possible eviction of current recipients if the agencies don’t have enough turnover.

The Northampton County Housing Authority, for example, believes it needs about 80 of its 680 Section 8 recipients to leave the program in the next 12 months to avoid evictions, said Colleen Altimare, its executive director. The authority runs federally subsidized housing programs for all of the county except Bethlehem and Easton, which have their own housing authorities.

“That’s a lot of people affected because those are folks that could have been selected from our waiting list,” Altimare said. “How do you tell that many people that there is no turnover? People say, ‘Where can I go, what can I do?’ There aren’t many other resources we can direct them to.”

The Northampton authority just closed its Section 8 waiting list in April, a move the Lehigh County Housing Authority had to do two years ago because of unsustainable demand, Executive Director Daniel Beers said.

'Safety net' disappearing

The Lehigh authority expects having to reduce its 1,326 Section 8 clients by 85, hopefully all through turnover, Beers said. As in Northampton County, Lehigh's housing authority runs federally subsidized housing programs for all of the county except Allentown and Bethlehem.

“There are less people we can help and there are more people right now that need our help because of the economy,” Beers said. “We still get numerous phone calls on a daily basis.”

Northampton County Community Development Administrator Lori Sywensky said the problem was broached at a regional housing meeting last week and no one had any answers.

“There was a sense of resignation that this is the new norm,” she said, before referring to federal funding recently restored to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. “It is frustrating to think the TSA got money sequestration cuts restored because people didn’t want to wait at airports; at the same time, our social safety net is disappearing without much notice or outrage.”

On top of the cuts to Section 8 vouchers, all housing authorities also had their Section 8 administrative and public housing funding cut as part of the federal sequester. Owning the most public housing units in the region, the Bethlehem Housing Authority suffered the largest cut to its public housing funding: a $1 million cut to its $9.6 million budget, Executive Director Clara Kendy said.

Because of robust investment returns in the 1980s and 1990s, Bethlehem has an $8 million reserve, which will sustain the authority for some time. But like its sister local housing agencies, it won’t be filling Section 8 vacancies and it’s not replacing staff, Kendy said.

In Warren, worst in years

Phillipsburg Housing Authority Executive Director Paul Rummerfield said with federal aid regularly dwindling, the agency already cut its previous 33-person staff by 12 through attrition. The authority is expecting another $250,000 reduction to its $5 million budget because of the sequester, he said.

The Northampton authority has sustained its budget through two years of pay freezes and by its employees taking a 5 percent pay cut this year, Altimare said. The staff also has agreed to take five unpaid days this year and 11 next year, she said.

Each housing authority’s Section 8 administrative fees are based on the number of apartments it has. Because authorities don’t have the funds to issue new vouchers, their administrative fees will continue to drop as well, Altimare said.

“If there aren’t solutions down the line, I don’t know how you continue to operate,” she said.

Warren County Housing Agency Executive Director Frank Delmare said the situation for housing agencies is the worst it’s been in his 38 years in the field. His agency administers federally subsidized housing for the entire county except Phillipsburg.

The agency is estimating it’s going to have to reduce its 640-person Section 8 housing program by 40 people to balance its budget, Delmare said.

“We’ll do that through attrition to the extent possible,” he said. “We’re hoping we won’t have to discontinue anybody.”

Helping hands dwindle

Families that can’t obtain subsidized housing either end up homeless, living with friends or relatives or falling into a repeating routine of being evicted when they can’t keep up with market rents, housing officials said.

The Allentown Housing Authority has the largest Section 8 waiting list in the region, totaling almost 10,000 people, Executive Director Daniel Farrell said. Because of the extra long list, Farrell says, he doesn’t think the authority was able to assist people who lost their jobs during the economic recession.

“The people that need the help now aren’t going to get it because we won’t issue as many vouchers or help as many families,” he said. “We become less of a resource.”

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SECTION 8 CUTS

Northampton, Lehigh and Warren counties' housing authorities suffered significant funding cuts as part of the federal sequester, including their Section 8 budgets.

Here are the anticipated local cuts to Section 8 program; officials said they hope to achieve them all through turnover to avoid evictions.

Allentown: Anticipates having to cut 80 of its 1,240 vouchers.

Bethlehem: Won't fill its 450 vouchers as they are vacated.

Easton: Anticipates having to leave open between 25 and 50 of its 562 vouchers.

Phillipsburg: Won’t fill its 200 vouchers as they are vacated.

Northampton County: Needs to cut about 80 of its 680 vouchers in a year.

Lehigh County: Expects to have to cut about 85 of its 1,326 recipients.